Double Trouble
by lon'quesadilla
Summary: Sierra is put in charge of babysitting three of the Burromuerto children late one night, and chaos and unexpected news follows.
1. Two Heads Are Better Than One

Hello and welcome to the week late first chapter of my dear friend signelchan's birthday fic! Happy week-late birthday (again), friend! This was changed slightly from the original idea and because of that, it accidently got very out of hand. Oh well.

* * *

It was the several knocks at the door that really began what was to be the stressful night, because it wasn't a calm knock as if someone was just coming for a day visit. It was one of those frantic, erratic knocks that means someone is either in trouble, or the person who answers the door is in trouble with the person knocking.

This time it was the first scenario, and despite it being so late at night that the cheesy infomercials for non-spilling pan lids and special towels that were supposed to absorb all the liquids were showing, Sierra immediately jumped up from her spot on the couch and bounded to the door with a spring in her step and with wide, bright eyes, dressed in her purple robe over her pajamas, as if she had had multiple cups of coffee and was waiting exactly for this moment.

Sierra was cut off from anything she was about to say by a loud string of swears as soon as the door was opened, the blasphemies coming from a very pregnant and very agitated Heather, as she leaned against the wall. Standing next to her mother and watching her with a very anxious look on her face was the eldest Burromuerto daughter, Rose. Alejandro stood directly in front of the door, cradling one child in his arm (who was crying weakly and covering his face with his small hands), and holding the hand of the other child, as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. The children were all dressed in their pajamas and looked as if they had all been roused from sleep, while Alejandro looked completely opposite, sleep probably the farthest thing from his mind. A small bag sat on the ground next to him, presumably the hospital bag they had prepared for this occasion.

"Sierra, I am sorry that it is so late, but it's-"

"Oh my God, just get on with it! Drop the kids off and let's go already!" Heather exclaimed, completely cutting over whatever he was going to try to explain, before clenching her teeth, beginning to take small breaths. The child next to her let out a small whimper at her mother's evident discomfort.

Sierra squealed, understanding immediately what was going on, and held out her arms for the youngest child in Alejandro's arms, who had stopped crying and was now rubbing his sleepy eyes. It was way past his bedtime. He went to Sierra without a fight, and yawned before laying his head on her shoulder.

"Thanks. They will all probably just go right back to sleep." Alejandro said, reaching down to pick up the bag by his feet, and swinging the strap of it over one shoulder. "Sorry this is such short notice. We didn't expect-"

"Get on with it, we need to go!" Heather groaned from the wall, still leaning against it. Sierra stuck her head out the doorway and smiled.

"Gee Heather, it seems like you've been pregnant forever, it feels like it's been a...maternity!" she cracked, and despite being in the midst of a contraction, Heather shot Sierra the dirtiest look ever, before turning her attention back to Alejandro.

"I mean it Alejandro, we have to go _now _before it's born here and I strangle Sierra with the umbilical cord for that dumb joke!" she spat through gritted teeth.

"Hold your horses, mi amore, we are going. We must not forget that she is doing us a favor by-"

"Yeah, thanks, whatever...can we go _now_?"

"Yes, we had better. Come here, Rose, your mother will be fine, I promise." Alejandro said, reaching his now free hand out to his eldest daughter, who hesitated, not wanting to leave her mother's side. She turned slightly and looked up at Heather, who despite being in the throes of labor, nodded and shook her head at her daughter.

"Everything's going to be fine. Please just go with the babysitter so I can go with your father." Heather said.

Not completely convinced, but wanting to follow directions, the daughter who was the splitting image of her mother nodded, and went to her father, who gently nudged her into the apartment and into the caring hands of Sierra, for a sleepover babysitting adventure which was thus far starting out very stressful.

She turned once more to say goodbye to her parents, but all she saw was the retreating back of her father, most likely being pulled along by her mother.

* * *

Once things had settled down slightly and the kids were settling on Sierra's couch, two of which were already close to being back to sleep, the eldest asked a question to break the temporary-silence.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" she asked.

"Well, it looks like your little brother and sister are going to go back to sleep." Sierra said, nodding towards the kids, the brother resting his head on his sister's shoulder, the two of them barely able to keep their eyes open.

"No, we're not. We're gonna wait for mom and dad." the sister muttered, before giving a huge yawn.

"Wanna see baby." the brother added, blinking slowly.

"I don't think that's going to happen tonight, but it will probably definitely be some time tomorrow." Sierra replied. "Which means you can totally go back to sleep now since you can't even keep your eyes open."

"Can too!" little Jose chirped, popping his eyes wide open for a moment before letting them droop once again.

"Ssh, go to sleep." Sierra whispered, "it's late, and you can look forward to a new sibling tomorrow."

"I hope it's a girl." Maria muttered, letting her eyes close as well. Sierra removed the blanket from the back of the couch and spread it to cover the two- and four-year-olds, now finally settling back to sleep. She stood back and turned to the eldest child, who was leaning against the couch and who didn't seem the slight bit tired.

"Do you want to go to bed, too?" she asked, and was not too surprised to get a no in response.

"Alright, then, what do you usually do at ten 'o clock at night, miss eight year old? You're usually asleep at this time, right?" Sierra asked.

"I am, but it's a special night, and I can't sleep yet." Rose answered, turning around and sitting down in the big armchair.

"But you know everything is going to be okay, right? Is that why you can't sleep, you're worried about your mom?" Sierra asked, walking over to the chair and sitting next to her.

"I've been through this new baby thing twice already, I know mom's gonna be alright." she replied, and Sierra had to stifle a laugh at the child's words. "I'm just worried about how the younger kids are gonna react to the new baby."

"They've also experienced it before." Sierra said. "I'm sure they'll be okay."

"But Jose doesn't understand that there's gonna be another one no matter how many times mom let him feel it kick in her tummy, and that he's not gonna be the baby of the family anymore. And Maria can be so overbearing to new things. When we got that new cat, she got scratched more times than she got to pet the cat. I'm worried she'll be rough with the new baby and it won't like her."

"Didn't your parents tell the younger ones that a new baby isn't a toy and can't be played with roughly? If so, I'm sure she listened and understands and you have nothing to worry about." Sierra answered, settling in next to her and grabbing the blanket from the armrest to cover the two with.

"Yeah, they told them, but even still." she sighed, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "I don't know, maybe I'm worrying about it too much."

"You're too young to be worrying about things like that, just let things play out and see how they go, yeah?"

Rose yawned, and nodded. "I guess you're right. Thanks."

"You bet! Now, do you want to watch some tv since you can't sleep? That usually always helps me to go to sleep if I'm having trouble."

"Sure. Mom and dad never let me stay up, and I've heard that these late-night shows are the best."

"They really are! You're just going to love _Baggage_. Oh, but don't tell your parents that I let you watch it." Sierra said, grabbing the remote and starting to flip channels through the networks again.

"What happens at the babysitter's apartment, stays at the babysitter's apartment." Rose said, turning her head so she could see the television set.

* * *

She had loved the show Sierra had put on for them (though she didn't understand most of the answers because Sierra had quickly covered her ears with her hands so much). Eventually she gave up on trying to watch a show she didn't understand anyways, and had fallen even before the rerun episode of _Jimmy Kimmel _came on at eleven-thirty, resting her head on Sierra's shoulder. Sierra dozed between the shows, waking up often to more of the annoying infomercials, and to make sure the kids were still sleeping. The three kids remained asleep through it all, moving slightly sometimes to change positions.

Just after midnight, Sierra's phone vibrated with a bit of exciting news, and she had to contain herself as she read the message from Alejandro, which was only that the action was soon to begin and thanking her again for watching the kids. She didn't reply, but set her phone back down on the chair's armrest and started flipping through the television channels again to try to stay awake for the next update. The child next to her shifted slightly then, before quickly settling back in.

The next text to come was almost an hour later, just as another late night talk show was beginning. This time the news was even more exciting, and if there had not been a sleeping child right next to her, Sierra would have jumped right up off of that chair and done a happy dance.

As it was, she bit her lip and squealed, causing the child to move in her sleep and wake up after a moment; the other two children on the couch also reacted, their eyes shooting open as they had when their father had woken them up a mere few hours before. One began crying again at the abrupt wake up, while the other blinked a few times in the dim light from the tv to try to get her bearings. The one sitting next to her rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching before turning to Sierra.

"What is it? Is it morning already?" she muttered.

"I'm really sorry to wake you guys, but I've got some great news!" Sierra said, not looking up from her glowing phone screen. "Your new sibling is here!"

All three of the children gasped at the news, the two younger kids immediately jumping off the couch and jumping up and down on the floor a few times. Sierra looked away from her phone long enough to stand and stretched, before checking her phone once more.

"Can we go and see the baby now?" the eldest asked from her still sitting position, and the two younger kids stopped their jumping and looked up at Sierra with pleading eyes.

"Aww, as much as I'd like to take you guys there to meet the baby, I'm afraid we can't. It's almost two in the morning, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning." Sierra explained.

"But mooooom...I mean, Sierraaaaa!" Maria realized her misname almost immediately and tried correcting it, but the damage was done.

"That was so adorable! You called me mom!" Sierra exclaimed, bending over to pick up the child and hug her tight before she could protest.

"Can we please get back on point and let us know about our new sibling?" Rose asked, eager to bring the conversation back.

"I'm so going to tell your mom about that tomorrow when we go see them!" Sierra said, for the moment forgetting that there was baby news to discuss, continuing to hug the child.

"Don't squeeze her too hard!" the brother exclaimed, walking up to Sierra and pulling on the bottom of her shirt. Sierra blinked and got ahold of herself, before releasing the child back to the floor. She walked back to the couch and plopped down, patting the two spots next to her, inviting the children back up.

"I guess I got too excited there, since there are bigger, more important things to be excited about!" she said, as the younger kids climbed back up and sat down next to her. The eldest turned in her spot to listen, the blanket still covering her. "So now, I'll tell you guys what I know about the new baby from your dad."

"You talked to dad?" the son who was Alejandro's clone asked.

"He texted me a while ago, and that was why I woke you three up. So, are you guys ready to know about your new sibling?" Sierra asked. The anticipation was clear on the three faces, as they all nodded excitedly.

"Okay!" Sierra said, and took another short pause. "It's a...girl! She was born-"

Sierra was cut off by a small whine, coming from the former middle child.

"Aww, it's okay!" Maria said, leaning over Sierra's lap to give her brother a quick hug. He let out a sigh before wiping his eyes.

"He was hoping for a brother." Rose explained.

"Aww, it's most certainly okay! I'm sure you're going to love your new sister as much as you love your other ones!" Sierra comforted the child, turning on the couch to give him a little hug. He sniffed and nodded.

"Now, she was born at-"

Just then her phone rang, interrupting the conversation yet again. Sighing, she leaned forward and picked it up, answering it on the second ring.

"Hello?"

The kids all watched as Sierra's face first dropped, and then light up before she squealed again.

"Are you serious? For real?" a pause. "Oh-em-gee! Keep us- yeah, okay! Good luck! Don't pass- okay, then."

She ended the call before being able to finish her sentence, and squealed again. The kids were more than eager to know the news at this point.

"What? What is it?" Rose spoke for the three of them.

"Oh em gee, you guys! This is big!" Sierra said, putting her hands up to her cheeks. "It's twins!"

Silence filled the air, the kids not being able to process.

"Your dad will call us back soon and let us know more when he knows, but there are going to be two new babies instead of just one! Isn't that great news?"

"But...how? We only got prepared for _one_ baby." Rose asked, throwing the blanket off of herself and standing up.

"Two babies means twice the love!" Maria exclaimed, finally realizing what this meant.

"That's right! Two babies will mean twice the love!" Sierra said.

It was a very stressful little while after that. Waiting to hear more news while still trying to process the news in the first place was proving too much.

Sierra could and would not sit still, continuously pacing the small living room back and forth, guided by the glaring light from the tv, which no one had bothered to turn off, but had muted. From the couch, the younger kids kept asking when it would be time to hear more about it. Everyone's tensions were high.

Finally nearly half an hour later, Sierra's phone rang again. She stopped pacing and raced to her phone, which was still laying on the couch between the kids.

"Hello?" she asked breathlessly, and squealed a moment later when she heard that there was going to be new news. The kids all watched her again, eager to hear more.

"Yes, we're all still awake, and- sure, I'll bring them by tomorrow morning! I still can't believe it's twins, that's just so crazy!"

She listened a moment before nodding happily. "It's good to hear she's doing okay! Tell her that her other kids all love and can't wait to see her!"

"Ask him everything! We want to know details!" Maria stage-whispered to Sierra; though unfortunately she couldn't be heard because Sierra was talking a mile a minute on the phone.

"Oh, it's just so unexpected! And congratulations again! We're all in total shock about it, and- what? Oh, yes, I'll make sure they get to sleep after this. They have to be rested to meet their new siblings! We'll talk tomorrow, call us, okay? We want to visit asap!" Sierra said, before taking a deep breath, and starting to listen again. She nodded a few more times. "That sounds fine. Okay, bye!"

She ended the call, and put her phone on the table, turning to addressing the kids as if she were to give a speech in front of a group of people.

"Alright you guys, they didn't give me too much information because they wanted to tell you a lot of it themselves tomorrow, but I can tell you that you're all the proud older siblings to two new baby girls!"

"_Two_ girls?" the now only boy child of the kids exclaimed first. "I'm only boy?"

"Looks like it, kiddo. But just remember, you get to watch over and protect your new sisters like you look over and protect your older ones!" Sierra said.

"Two girls! I have two more people to play dress-up with now!" Maria spoke next, evidently excited at the news.

"That's right! That's going to be so much fun for you!" Sierra said, smiling at the child.

"I still don't understand it, but I'm sure we'll learn all that tomorrow. I'm still really excited, though." the eldest said.

"As you should be!" Sierra said. "I'm so glad you're all excited, but your dad made me promise to make you guys go to bed so we can be rested for tomorrow, so I think that means it's time for bed now."

"Aww, do we haveta?" Maria asked, trying hard to stifle a yawn at the same time. She failed, and lay her head back on Sierra's shoulder.

"Not tired." Jose muttered, unable to hide a yawn as well. He also lay his head on the babysitter's shoulder, as Sierra pulled the blanket up to cover the three of them.

"Sleep does sound kind of nice...and we have an exciting day tomorrow." Rose said, pulling the blanket up to cover herself and leaning back into the pillow on the chair. Sierra reached over one of the already nearly asleep kids and turned the tv off, making the apartment completely dark.

Though the four of them had been excited, awake, and awaiting the news not too long before, they now had all finally succumbed to sleep, while over at the hospital, the parents were trying to adjust to having a set of twins in the family.

* * *

Betcha didn't see that coming (or maybe you did because the title and chapter name are kind of obvious giveaways). Anyways, stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this fic coming soon, where all questions will be answered. :)


	2. Socks, Bows, and Exhausted Parents

**A/N: The exciting second part of this fic! I'm really very sorry it was so delayed; I blame my silly finals.**

* * *

The rest of that night at Sierra's had basically gone smoothly, minus the little hiccup right before dawn when the youngest child woke up and realized that he was not in their usual house, but still at the babysitter's, and that his parents were not with him. A little bit of soothing from a drowsy Sierra had gotten him back to sleep for another hour, and by then his sisters had also woken up and were ready for the day.

Their sleepiness had quickly been replaced with excitement when they had all seen the flashing light on Sierra's phone then, and the texts that had signaled it. There was one text message and one picture, the text giving the information about which room they were in and what time visiting hours were, the picture a photo of two tiny pairs of socked feet side by side in one of the hospital bassinets, a small, cute teaser about the babies.

After the initial excitement of seeing the photo and reading the texts, the kids wasted no time in getting ready to go meet their new sisters. They left the house a little after eight, and Sierra had only gotten lost once on the way to the hospital, due to being overexcited and turning the car down the wrong street. She had quickly gotten back on track, and soon enough they had arrived and found a parking spot near the hospital entrance. They all exited quickly out of the purple car, careful not to hit the cars parked next to them with the doors. Sierra carried Jose across the parking lot and the girls held hands, stopping only once they had made it to the sidewalk and stood in front of the security guard who was holding a clipboard and looking like he really didn't want to be there since it was so early in the morning.

"Mornin', folks. I'm going to have to see some ID's, ma'am." he said to Sierra, making her set the kid in her arms down on the sidewalk and reach into her back pocket to retrieve her wallet, pulling out her ID card from the little slot.

"I'm taking these adorable kids to meet their new sisters! I'm like their unofficial aunt, or something." she explained to the man, who looked as if he could care less about the situation, handing him her card.

"What are the kids' last names? I can find whatever room their parents are in by the last name and give you some sticker ID's for visiting purposes. But only two are allowed in the room at one time, so you'll have to keep switching off who visits." the security guard explained, glancing over Sierra's ID.

"But why only two at a time? We'd all like to see them at once, if that'd be okay." Sierra said.

"Sorry, ma'am, hospital policy. We don't want to overwhelm the new parents and risk the babies getting sick by having too many people in the room visiting at once." the security man said, handing a very disappointed Sierra her ID card back. "So, last names?"

"Burromuerto. B-U-R-R..." Sierra started to spell out the name before the security guard held a hand up to stop her.

"Yes, it's here on the clipboard. They're in room 145, so let me just get you some tags here..." he trailed off, peeling the stickers off the sheet and handing them to her. "And there we go."

"Thank you!" Sierra said, as she took the ID's from the man and handed them out one by one to the kids with her. They all stuck their stickers on their shirts and looked up at Sierra.

"Alright, you're all set. Straight through these doors and to the left, past the waiting room and gift shop, that's where the visiting rooms are." he pointed, nodding at the group.

"Okay, thanks again!" Sierra said, walking past the guard into the hospital, with the children close behind her.

Though it was still so early in the morning, the waiting room was already bustling. Sierra wasted no time, and started walking briskly across the room. She walked the kids passed the reception desk, where the receptionists were both talking on phones while two women and their suspected husbands stood by, the ladies' faces often switching between pain and neutral expressions. They passed the waiting area, where another woman sat in one of the chairs watching her two young kids play on the toys' table in the center of the chairs and rubbing her large middle. A few people hurried around inside the small gift shop off to the side as the group passed, grabbing boxes of blue or pink bubble gum cigars and tiny baby clothes sets. The youngest child became distracted by this last thing over anything else, and stopped in his tracks.

"Let's get those!" he exclaimed, pointing inside the small shop directly at the shelves of candy. Sierra stopped and looked to where the kid was pointing, and smiled.

"That's a great idea!" she said. "It'll be a nice surprise for your new sisters, come on kids."

Instead of heading for the doors, the group quickly changed directions and headed into the shop, greeted with a warm welcome from the cashier behind the register.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" she asked.

" The candy." Maria answered, pointing to the colorful boxes. "Pink ones, please."

"Good choice! They are our most popular new baby item. Do you three have a new sibling that you're going to use to celebrate these with?" the cashier asked, reaching over the counter and grabbing a box of the pink cigars off of the shelf.

"These three are going to meet their new surprise twin sisters, so we thought we'd celebrate by bringing them these." Sierra explained, as she pulled her wallet back out of her pocket again.

"Oh, surprise twins? Wow! Well congratulations, big siblings!" she said. "Can I also show you some of the other '_sibling_' options of things that we have, to maybe go alongside the candy for this special occasion?"

Five minutes later in addition to the candy, the three siblings left the little store dawning their new "_I'm The Big Brother/Sister_" shirts, respectively.

* * *

They stopped only once more one the way to the room, and that was to peek in at the two occupants behind the glass window in the Nursery. Both of which were brand-new babies; one was in the process of getting all the newborn tests, the other was asleep in one of the bassinets, wrapped in the standard baby-burrito wrap.

"They're so tiny." the middle child commented, pushing her face against the glass window and momentarily fogging it with her breath.

"Yes, they are. Well, most babies are, but they're all different. Some are bigger than others." Sierra explained.

"I wonder how big the twins are going to be...Wait, why are we stopped here? Let's go see them now!" Rose said, tugging Sierra's hand to get them going again.

"Yeah, let's go!" the littlest agreed, though he was probably more anxious about seeing his parents than his siblings.

Turning away from the window, Sierra led the final stretch down the long hallway to the room, the three kids following behind her like baby ducks following their mom. Once getting to the correct door, she knocked lightly, waited for the faint 'come in' before entering, and quietly opened the door. They went in as quietly as the door had been opened, until the younger kids had caught sight of their parents, that was. Heather was propped against some pillows sitting up in the hospital bed, holding a pink bundle in her arms. Alejandro was sitting in a chair right next to the bed, holding the other pink bundle. The two of them looked as if they had been up the whole night with the babies and desperately needed some sleep.

"Momma! Dad!" the youngest exclaimed first, running to the bed. The other children followed behind him, walking across the small hospital room to their exhausted looking parents.

"We're here, and we brought something special for the girls from the gift shop. And your children also have the most adorable shirts that we found and just had to get." Sierra said, following the children into the room and closing the door behind her.

"What are they wearing and where did they get them?" Heather asked first, as her children approached and stood before her, the three of them smiling up at their mother.

"That's what she's trying to tell you! We stopped at the gift shop before coming to meet the babies and got candy and new shirts for the occasion." the middle child explained.

"Well, that was very thoughtful." Alejandro piped up. "I'm sure they would appreciate that-"

"If they could appreciate things." Heather said, crossly.

"Forgive her, she did not get much sleep and is a bit snappier than usual." Alejandro said, sighing.

"Well I hope you're not too tired to tell us this story, because we're all very excited to hear it!" Sierra said, pulling up the other chair and setting it next to Alejandro, before plopping herself down in it.

"Well, there's no reason to be that excited, because it's really not that great of a story." Heather said, making a face towards the guests.

"But it _is_ that great of a story. Come and meet your new sisters, and we'll tell you of how this all happened." Alejandro said, turning the bundle he was holding towards the little kids. Maria and Jose went up on their tip-toes, peeking over the blankets to try to get a peek at the sibling he was holding.

"Uh, but first go wash your hands in the bathroom sink, and with the soap, please. I don't want them getting your germs." Heather said. With only a small amount of protest from the kids, the three of them paused and headed back towards the bathroom to get the hand-washing done. After a moment, Sierra followed them to make sure the hand-washing actually got done thourougly. The moment they had closed the bathroom door behind them, there was a knock at the room door, and a moment later a nurse entered.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Burromuerto, I'm just coming to make sure that everything is okay." she said. "And that there are no mishaps like this morning's."

"We're fine, thanks." Heather answered quickly. "We just want to relax and let their older siblings see them now."

"That sounds fine, but are you aware of the policy that we only allow two people in the room to visit at once? How many siblings do they have that are coming to visit?" the nurse asked from the doorway.

Heather and Alejandro shared a quick glance before answering something which wasn't the whole truth: two. It was not true of course, because the four of them were already hiding out in the bathroom, each still dawning the ID sticker the security had given them on the fronts of their shirts, but it was a little too late for that.

"Okay, good. I'll be back in a while to check up on you after the family has visited so you can have some time with them, but do let me know if you need anything." the nurse said, before closing the door back behind her. After a few seconds, the bathroom door opened and Sierra again led the children out, all with their hands freshly washed and smelling of hospital soap.

"Wow, that was close! We almost got caught there. But okay, now that our hands are washed and the nurse is gone again, let us hear this exciting story!" Sierra said, the little kids following her as she walked back over to the bed and to the new parents and resumed where they had been standing before.

"Fine but first, calm down, we don't want them waking up. It was hard enough to get them to sleep after they got all those stupid shots in their heels before you guys got here." Heather said.

"Her enthusiasm is great, though it would be better if we all kept our voices down. We must let them hear the so-called exciting story, we cannot tell them nothing about the current situation we have found ourselves in, but it really would be best if you stay quiet." Alejandro said, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Really though, what's there to tell them that's that exciting? We didn't want to know anything about it except whether or not it was healthy, which they apparently _both_ were. Some people don't know they're pregnant, and some people don't know that they're having twins. The end." Heather said, already forgetting that they had to be quiet.

"But that is just so weird! You hate surprises, so why didn't you want to know what this one was? Or that there were two?" Sierra asked.

"Since we had found out what all the others were, we just wanted this last one to be a surprise. And what a surprise they were." Alejandro said.

"Ooh, tell us all about that part, when you guys first found out it that it was twins." the eldest child requested.

"I'm not gonna go into any _real _detail on that, but basically, after this one here had arrived," Heather said, nodding to the sleeping child in her arms, "we were told about the other one by the doctor, who thought it would be funny to make a joke about it instead of it being a serious thing."

"Ah, while the doctor joking part was accurate, the part about which child it was is incorrect, because it was after the beauty that I am holding that we were informed about the other one, mi amore." Alejandro interrupted.

Heather groaned. "Not this again. I think I can remember which one of them I birthed first, thank you very much. It was her, okay? Now be quiet and let me tell the story." Heather said, glaring at him from the bed before continuing. "So while this one was still screaming and crying in the back of the room, the doctor was trying to make a joke about the other one."

"_Uh oh, looks like it's gonna be double trouble. You're having twins! _' " he had said." Alejandro said, shuddering. "For the first few seconds, we had thought he really was joking, but sure enough, the contractions started up again, and with them came more of the, uhm, vile blasphemies from your mother."

"Did they include the naughty words she was calling you in the car on the way to Sierra's last night?" Rose asked.

"Right. Those words that we told you that you can't say until you're in high school." Heather said, not exactly meeting her daughter's eyes.

"At that point, we realized this was no joke. She was in no way prepared to go through that again, so instead of listening to the doctor and settling down in preparation for the second baby, she went to calling me foul names and nearly kicking the doctor in the face for even getting close to her again." Alejandro continued.

"He would have deserved my foot to his face for treating the thing like such a big joke." Heather muttered.

"Be that as it may, they really should have seen it. I did not know that a full term woman who had just learned she was expecting twins could be so strong against a doctor and the staff. I suppose we can consider ourselves lucky that did not have to wait too much longer before the second one came." Alejandro said. He shifted the baby in his arms a little bit then, before the story continued.

"But before that, the kick in the face totally intended for the doctor went to you instead." Heather added, smiling a little. This caused gasps from the listening visitors.

"How the heck did that happen? And are you alright?" the middle child asked, concern for her father evident on her face.

"I was merely trying to assist in welcoming the second baby, but I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and got your mother's foot to my face instead of a first glimpse of our newest child." he replied, sighing.

"And so just like that, we had two screaming, crying babies. And while all that was bad, the real trouble didn't really start until maybe an hour later." Heather said.

"What happen then?" the youngest inquired.

"It really started to be bad after they had been cleaned up and dressed, right after that picture we sent to you, actually." Alejandro said, smiling at bit at the memory.

"If you think it's funny and laugh, I wont be afraid to kick you in the face again, this time on purpose." Heather threatened, glaring at Alejandro from the bed. He stopped smiling and frowned.

"It has been hours, certainly it is funny now." he said.

Heather rolled her eyes and addressed the visitors again. "It's not because I haven't gotten to sleep since that. But basically, they both started getting fussy at the same time, and the different colored socks that the nurse had dressed them in to help tell them apart fell off sometime in that process, so again, we had two crying and screaming babies that this time we couldn't even tell apart."

"You mean that _you_ couldn't tell apart. Clearly I could tell the difference, because-" Alejandro began, before Heather cut him off mid-sentence.

"Oh shut up, you could not. So we had to call the nurse in for help. It was nearly four in the morning by that time.

"And they had both started screaming louder, so you can imagine our stress levels were pretty high." Alejandro added.

"But do you know what she did?" Heather asked, immediately getting four no's from the visitors, "she laughed after she came in and we told her what was going on."

"Apparently, twins getting mixed up happens all the time, and she thought it was rather, funny, but we obviously did not think the same way that the nurse did." Alejandro said.

"But how was she able to tell them apart while you guys could you guys not? Didn't the babies have their hospital bracelets or something on?" Sierra asked.

"They did, but we, well, hadn't decided on both of their names yet, we had only chosen one name because we thought there was only one, and were having second thoughts about it. So their bracelets merely said '_Baby A_' and '_Baby B_', and that was obviously no help." the father answered, taking a moment to look down at the sleeping baby he was holding's face. She had a grimace on her face.

"So how did that get resolved?" the eldest asked.

"The nurse first helped us calm them down, and then brought different colored hair bows for them. She said that bows would probably stay on better than socks. So Baby A got a purple bow, while Baby B got a pink bow." Alejandro said.

"Our first thing after the nurse left was officially deciding what their names were so we could tell them apart. And now that they have names, socks, and bows, they're easier to tell apart." Heather said.

"They will no longer have to be the twin sisters that their parents couldn't differentiate." Alejandro said.

"And what did you decide on for these beauties' names?" Sierra asked.

"We decided to call Baby A Jezebel, one of the names I had wanted to use if this one was a girl." Heather said, looking down at the pink bundle she was holding. The baby had a neutral expression on her face, finally calm after the long night.

"I guess we were lucky that there were two so we could both pick separate names that we wanted to use." Alejandro said. "For I named Baby B little Lupe, after my own dear sweet abuelita."

"Oh em gee, those names are beautiful!" Sierra exclaimed, and the two girls nodded as well. Even the now-only brother seemed to agree on the babies' names.

"Can I please try holding one of them?" Rose asked.

"I think it would be a great idea for you to hold your new sibling first." Alejandro said. "You are the most experienced with new babies, and it would be most helpful if you were to show the others how to properly hold them."

"Okay." she agreed, and Sierra quickly and happily gave up her seat to the big sister. After a moment, Rose had a sibling on either side of the chair and Sierra hanging over the back of it, also anxious to get a good look at the newest family members. Once she was comfortable, Alejandro walked slowly over to her and kissed the forehead of the baby he was holding before placing her in her big sister's arms, her arms already positioned to support the baby's head and back, second nature after having gone through the new sibling thing twice before.

"She's tiny, just like the babies we saw in the nursery." she commented first, looking down at the tiny bundle in her arms. "I remember my other siblings being bigger when they were new."

"That is because they were a little early, but that is common for twins. The nurse said they should be able to go home with no problems tomorrow." Alejandro explained.

"Who weighed how much when they were born?" Sierra asked, leaning over the back of the chair to get a better look at the baby. The other siblings were now both standing on tip-toe on either side of the chair, looking down at their new sibling.

"She was the slightly bigger one, at 7 pounds, 3 oz." Heather said. "Her sister weighed in at 6 lbs, 10 oz."

"She's so cute, I love her already." the bigger sister said, leaning forward to give her sister a kiss. The baby made a little noise and opened her eyes, stretching her arms a little before giving a big yawn.

"Baby sleepy?" the little brother asked.

"She's very sleepy. Being born and getting used to everything on the outside is hard work." the eldest replied.

"That's right. Though that was the longest period of sleep she'd had since arriving." Alejandro said.

"That means they'll probably be waking up wanting to eat, soon. And then after maybe we can _all_ nap." Heather said, trying to hide a yawn behind her hand, but failing.

"I can watch the kids again tonight since you guys are gonna be here until tomorrow." Sierra said, which got two excited cheers from the kids; the youngest made a face and looked up at his dad, the only one not excited at the new about staying with the babysitter again.

"No home tonight?" he asked, his lower lip trembling slightly.

"I am afraid not. But you will get to stay with Sierra again, and that was fun last night, was it not?" Alejandro asked his son.

He nodded, still looking up at his dad. "Fun time, but wanna go home. Show babies our house." he said, looking from his dad to his mom to try to get a different answer.

Heather shook her head at him. "Sorry, kiddo, but that won't be until tomorrow. We have to stay here tonight to make sure the babies are going to be okay to go home." Heather told him.

The kid sighed, but nodded his head. "Home tomorrow, instead."

"That's right, we'll get to show them where they live tomorrow." Heather said, smiling at him.

"And you can show them all your toys and games and where we take baths, and where we sleep and play and everything!" his older sister added.

The little brother nodded again and looked back at his sleeping little sister, before looking up at Alejandro again. "Daddy, where do babies come from? They come from home?"

There was a brief pause then, broken a second later by Sierra letting out a loud guffaw of laughter, which did not help the situation at all.

"Oh, I know!" the four-year-old piped up from the side, the sudden sound of her voice startling the previously calm baby in her sister's arms. She suddenly whimpered and her face crumpled, the lower lip trembling pitifully. A moment later, the crying started.

"Oops, sorry." she said, realizing that her outburst had caused the baby's tears, as the older sister started rocking the baby in her arms. "I was just trying to answer his question."

Alejandro was over to the commotion quickly, hoping the child's crying would not wake the other and start a chain of crying; he was too late, though, and as he took the baby in his arms, the baby in Heather's arms suddenly started.

"I really had assumed that it would have been Sierra who woke them up." Heather sighed, starting to rock the baby in her arms. Though she wasn't crying as hard as the other baby was, her crying was enough to put the already-overtired mother on edge.

"What is going on in here?" a passing nurse suddenly asked, entering the room. She took a look around the room before assessing the situation. "And why are there so many visitors in here?"

"The family and babysitter were just coming to meet the babies, and-" Alejandro began.

"And I think the visit's over. I love you guys, but I think we need some peace now. No offense or anything." Heather finished.

"But, mom!" the middle child protested. "I didn't get to hold the baby yet."

"You can first tomorrow, I promise. Be good for Sierra again and we'll see you back at the house, tomorrow alright?" Heather asked, still rocking the whining child in her arms.

"I am very sorry we had to say goodbye this way." Alejandro said. "But maybe it was about time since we have not slept and will most likely be in better spirits tomorrow."

"That's true. I'll bring them over as soon as you get home tomorrow, okay?" Sierra said.

"Sounds perfect. Thanks again. Love you, kids." Heather said.

"Alright, come on kiddos, let's go now." Sierra said, waving at the three kids to follow her. They all agreed, though it was obvious they were not ready to leave yet, and with a final wave, Sierra led them out of the room, where the nurse was trying to help the parents console the two crying babies, and into the hallway.

"That was fun. I wish we could have stayed longer, though." Rose spoke up first, after they had started back down the hallway.

"That would have been nice, but you could tell they were getting ready to be alone. And hopefully get some sleep." Sierra said.

"Yeah. So what are we gonna do today? And can we order pizza for dinner?" the eldest asked.

"And watch a movie?" the middle child added.

"I don't know what we're going to do for the day, but those both sound like great plans for the night. Yes to both." Sierra said, leading them past the Nursery (now with no occupants) and back out to the waiting room.

"What do you wanna do today, Jose?" the eldest asked the quiet little brother once they had gotten outside the hospital, who hadn't said a word since they had left.

"Where do babies come from?" he asked again, and during the car ride back to Sierra's, his sisters told him the tale that they had been spun from their parents about where babies come from: the big white bird otherwise known as the stork.

* * *

It had been a few days since the twins had been born and the chaotic visit to the hospital had happened, and in that time, the family had somewhat gotten used to having two new babies around.

On the third day after the huge surprise, as evening drew close, a purple car pulled up to a house and its owner killed the motor and quickly jumped out of the car. She closed the door and ran around the car, opening the passenger side and pulling out a medium-sized bag overflowing with pink tissue paper, a gift for the new twins. Along with that, she pulled out three smaller goodie bags, these ones filled with candy and small treasures for the brother and sisters. It was no one's birthday, Sierra just like giving gifts.

Locking the car, she walked up the path and stopped at the door. She knocked, and was greeted a moment later by Alejandro, who was cradling one of the babies in a pink blanket in the crook of his arm. Before Sierra could say anything, Alejandro put one finger up to his lips, a silent reminder for her to be quiet. She nodded, and he stepped aside to let her in.

"Sierra, hello. What is the occasion?" he whispered.

"I have surprises for your kids, both the twins and the older kids. Are they still up?" Sierra asked, holding the bags up to show him. Alejandro nodded at her.

"They are all at the table, eating their supper. You may go see them, but please try to keep your voice down, we have just gotten the twins to sleep and Heather is trying to eat as well before they wake up again." Alejandro explained.

"Great!" she said, and then her eyes caught the little bundle in Alejandro's arms, and forgot all about the previous reminder to be quiet. "Oh my gosh, she's so cute! Wait, which one is she?"

"Ssh, please. She is Lupe. We have her dressed in pink, as opposed to Jezebel, who is wearing purple today." Alejandro said, gently rocking the baby in his arms.

"She is just too precious! And bigger than when she left the hospital! They really do grow so fast." Sierra replied, sighing.

"That they do, indeed. Come with me, we will see the others." he said, and Sierra followed him back down the hallway to the kitchen.

"So, has he stopped talking about the stork yet?" Sierra whispered as they walked, earning a sigh from Alejandro.

"No, he is still talking about it, three days later. It is all he has been talking about, and now every bird he sees outside, he asks if it is the infamous stork. It is driving Heather crazy. Care to tell me again why you let his sisters give him that story?" Alejandro asked.

"I thought it was better than to actually tell him where babies came from." Sierra replied, shrugging. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Better than actually having to tell him, I suppose. We told Rose the story after Maria was born, and let me tell you, that was when we reverted to telling the stork story. Well, here they are."

They were as he had said, the three kids at the table in the middle of a simple dinner, and Heather was sitting with them, attempting to eat with one hand while cradling a sleepy baby in the other.

"Sierra!" the youngest noticed her first, grinning at her from behind a mouth covered in his dinner. The other kids turned from their spots and smiled at her, too. Even Heather gave a small smile Sierra's way.

"What's going on?" the eldest asked, and Sierra held up the bags she was holding.

"I have presents, but like your dad said, we need to keep quiet so the babies can sleep, okay?"

The three kids nodded. All standing one at a time, they brought their plates and dishes to the kitchen sink and stacked them.

"Oh, they're so well behaved!" Sierra said, raising her voice a little higher than a whisper. Alejando tapped his fingers on his lips again, and Sierra nodded quickly.

"I've got gifts for you guys, and I'll give you those first, but let's take them into the other room so we can let your mom eat and not disturb the babies." Sierra said, holding up the bags. The kids nodded and followed her into the other room.

Once there, they all took spots on the couch and Sierra handed them each a bag, each kid's face lighting up as they saw the contents.

"Wow, thanks!" the two youngest exclaimed, their eyes shining.

"We need some candy around here, since the babies came, it's been nothing but healthy foods and exercise." the eldest said, also giving Sierra a big smile.

"Exercise is important, but candy is important, too." Sierra said, beaming at the kids.

"But what's in the other bag?" the youngest asked.

"We'll have to wait for your parents on that one, it's a present for the twins." she said. Just then, the two came into the room, each carrying one of the babies.

"Mom, Sierra has presents for the twins!" the middle child exclaimed.

"Shh, yes. Please keep your voice down. Remember, we have just gotten them to sleep, and we do not want them waking up again." Alejandro said, rocking the baby as he spoke.

"Well, since these are presents for them, it might be better if they were awake." Sierra suggested, shrugging.

"Actually, no, it's better that they're sleeping." Heather said. "They don't care about anything present-related yet, no offense."

"That's true. Plus, I would much rather see your reactions to these presents." Sierra said, holding out the bag for Heather. She put one hand up, pointed at the baby and then to the playpen set up in the corner of the living room, and then started walking over to it. Alejandro followed, and the pair of them placed the babies right next to each other in the playpen, before turning and returning to the couch.

Sierra handed the bag to Heather, who wasted no time in pulling the pink tissue paper out of the bag. She soon came to the contents, and pulled the first article of clothing out, holding it up in front of her to look at.

It was a little white onesie that had a red heart on it around the words_: I was planned!_

Heather looked at Sierra, looking slightly confused.

"Just wait until you see the other one." Sierra said, trying hard to keep a straight face. Heather began digging in the bag for the other one, which looked exactly the same, but had slightly different text, and nearly dropped it when she had picked it up and had gotten a good look at it: _I was a surprise_!

"You didn't." Heather said.

"I did! From the moment you told us their story in the hospital, I knew I had to get them these! I had seen them on the internet before they were born, and since I hadn't gotten them a baby present since you said we should wait until after whatever it was was born, as soon as I got home from seeing them in the hospital, I knew exactly what to go to get them!" Sierra exclaimed, unable to contain herself any longer. "And plus, now maybe with these, you'll be able to tell them apart a little easier!"

"We can tell them apart fine, thank you." Heather snapped.

"Well, this might help for those times in the middle of the night if you have trouble or something." she said. "Do you like them?"

"Sierra, they are wonderful gifts." Alejandro said. "Thank you."

"I guess they are pretty great. Thanks." Heather said.

"Oh, you are so welcome! As soon as you put them in the outfits, I want pictures!"

In her mind, Heather had already decided that there was no way in hell that her twins would be put in the outfits, but that decision wasn't the same for Alejandro.

And so a week after this visit, Sierra received a picture of two very similar babies laying on a blanket side-by-side in almost matching onesies, the text on the clothes the lone deciding factor for telling them apart.

* * *

**A/N: And there we go! The longest one-shot chapter I've written, and so worth it. Happy VERY LATE birthday again, friend! :) **


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